For this activity post, we will be using Librio’s beautiful, personalised book - The Tree, The Key and Me. The book tells the story of a little girl or boy who finds a key in their garden leading them on an awesome adventure. You can find out more about Librio and their personalised books here: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Librio Blog
If you follow me on social media, then you will know just how much Arthur loves imaginative play. Whether he is playing alone with his toys, or alongside others, he will usually be taking on the role of a character he has read about or seen on TV and encouraging others to join in his role play ideas.
Books are a great way to help children to build up ‘story language’ when taking on a role, and what better way to encourage this level of imaginative play than with a personalised book where your child is the main character?!
To make this story especially engaging, I put together some story props to use while reading and retelling the story, alongside some activities to really make the story come to life....
One of the great things about this book is that the personalisation for Arthur came out looking quite a lot like him, so it is really easy to imagine him as a character within the story! The book can be personalised in six ways: gender, skin tone, hair and eye colour, hairstyle and colour of glasses (if applicable) - Arthur helped me to choose the right hair colour and when the book arrived, he ran upstairs to collect some clothes to put on (including his blue slap-band watch) so that he could look exactly like Arthur in the book!
If you follow me on social media, then you will know just how much Arthur loves imaginative play. Whether he is playing alone with his toys, or alongside others, he will usually be taking on the role of a character he has read about or seen on TV and encouraging others to join in his role play ideas.
Books are a great way to help children to build up ‘story language’ when taking on a role, and what better way to encourage this level of imaginative play than with a personalised book where your child is the main character?!
To make this story especially engaging, I put together some story props to use while reading and retelling the story, alongside some activities to really make the story come to life....
Enhancing imaginative play with personalised books - Librio - The Tree, The Key and Me
One of the great things about this book is that the personalisation for Arthur came out looking quite a lot like him, so it is really easy to imagine him as a character within the story! The book can be personalised in six ways: gender, skin tone, hair and eye colour, hairstyle and colour of glasses (if applicable) - Arthur helped me to choose the right hair colour and when the book arrived, he ran upstairs to collect some clothes to put on (including his blue slap-band watch) so that he could look exactly like Arthur in the book!
I had previously read through the book and put together some story props ready for a special story time when we were ready to sit down and read...
A tree/branch/twigs which had lost its colour
A bear
A squirrel
A jar with a tiny key inside
A larger key for independent play
A wand
A witch’s hat
Some black glasses
A couldron and spoon
Potion ingredients from the book
A tiny door
I was desperately trying to locate a small shovel for Arthur to ‘dig’ with but I just couldn’t find one in time!
The story line in this book is great for asking questions and making predictions, Arthur was intrigued as to why the forest was losing its colour and he loved the idea that he could be the one to help!
The book includes opportunities for discussing and recognising rhyming words when the witch is casting her magic spells and there is a wonderful, double page illustration which allows for your child to really scan the page and try to notice just why “everything was not quite right.”
Arthur really enjoyed the detail in the illustrations, he looked carefully at the pictures as we were reading and asked questions and made comments as we went along. The handwritten ingredients for the spell offered a nice listening and attention opportunity for Arthur to not only point out the ingredients on the page, but also to find the ingredients within our story props and add them to our pot to make the spell ourselves!
Here are our 'bouncing blackberries' about to bounce right out of the spell pot!!
Other activities to try with The Tree, The Key and Me:
Painting branches that have lost their colour:
We used the plain branches from our props as part of an activity to add colour, using the idea from the bear that Arthur could help in some way! This activity is great for an individual, or as a collaboration within a group, allowing for lots of language around colour and colour mixing, talking about nature and noticing similarities and differences. Of course, it also leaves a wonderful object to display afterwards!
Name Recognition - spotting your own name:
Personalised books are great for helping children to spot and recognise their own name and this book has LOTS of opportunities! For this reading activity I used these wax covered bendable strings to make a hoop which Arthur could use to find and circle his name. The wax means they stick to the page and can be reused over and over again. You can also chop the string to underline things like tricky words (in different colours if you wish) when reading with a child or a group of children in a setting.
Potion play and colour mixing with water:
This is an activity we have undertaken previously but it would work really well as a follow on activity with The Tree, The Key and Me, for children to make their own potions and colours using coloured water, pippettes, potion bottles and rainbow test tubes...
Adding colour to plain flowers - experiment:
Again, this is an activity we have done in the past, but it would tie in with the personalised story of The Tree, The Key and Me by using science (or magic spells!) to give nature some colour! Have a look below at how we did this....
A little more about Librio and their books:
- Books are printed in the UK, posted worldwide, and despatched within three working days.
- Books are printed on high quality 100% recycled FSC certified paper. Printed with award-winning sustainable printers the Pureprint Group.
- For every book sold, Librio plant a tree with Trees for the Future.
- For every book sold, Librio donate £1 to literacy charities. They do so much more than “just” donate money. - Super easy and efficient ordering process.
- The book is currently available in 18 languages and dialects, including UK and US English, French, German, Swiss, Italian, Spanish and Welsh.
- 15% discount when ordering two or more books using the code YAY15
We absolutely loved this personalised book from Librio - The Tree, The Key and Me, and I hope we have given you some useful ideas of how to use story props and activities to bring the story to life! I'd love to hear whether you have used this book too and how you get on?
Sarah x
Disclosure: We were given a code for this book and compensated for our time. All words, ideas, opinions and activities are our own.
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